Apollo, Hydrofarm, iPower, Virtual Sun.....HPS opinions anyone?

I'm thinking about ordering a HPS grow light on amazon. The problem is that I have no idea which one to order. And what is the difference between magnetic ballast and digital ballast?

i dont have any of those, but i have heard a lot of good about apollo, hydrofarm and ipower seem to be 50/50. If you dont care about a constant buzz, get a magnetic ballast and itll work for 5+ years. If you get a digital, itll quieter and most have a dimming feature. If you get a digital though, pay a little extra and get one with a RF shield built in (search on here if you dont know what RF interference).

I have a 400 watt ipower and it works great. The entire package was about 125.00 came with everything include both HPS and MH bulbs. The digital ballast has a very long cord so it can be out of the area and also has a built in fan so it doesn't run hot at all. Mine has worked great.

Make sure whoever you buy a digital ballast offers a warranty, some give them for up to 2-5 years. I know the Apollos I have came with a decent warranty.

i have 3 digital and one magnetic. the most noticeable difference is the size and weight. a magnetic ballast is big and heavy. i just bought a 1000 watt magnetic convertible on amazon for less than 200 bucks this summer. i think magnetic will outlive a digital because you can refurb the parts. they get hotter than digital but i run a small fan on all my ballasts.

i'm not sure it really matters! grab the best one you can find in your budget.

this is what i got. 150 bucks with a 5 year warranty. free shipping. i like it!

http://www.amazon.com/1000W-240V-Crop-King-Ballast/dp/B005UGU4SM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380343787&sr=8-1&keywords=crop+king+ballast

Apollo has been working for me for a few grows now. Everything came intact, everything worked.

I run the Apollo 600w in both my flower and veg rooms. no issues so far and im on cycle 2.

I use Galaxy Ballasts currently and they come with warranty and some of the models have the select-a-watt which can let you dial down your bulbs intensity . I have used magnetic in the past .. they work perfect as others have stated but are super heavy compared to all these new digi ones!

I upgraded my 400w with an Apollo 600w with adjustable output, a cool tube, hangers, a timer, and two hps bulbs off ebay--mega low mart--for $141. It has mixed reviews, but it's been working fine for about a month.

magnetic will cost you more in electric bills over a digital, they both are easy to fix if broken if you understand electronics. most common problem with any electric (ballast, computers, tv's, monitors, frigs, freezers ecet ect) is the transformer and or capacitors go out. Ive had the same 400 watt ebay kit for 3 years now and it doesnt make any noise and has never failed, and it only added around 15 bucks to my power bill, my main gaming computer cost more monthly then my whole grow op.

I just purchased a 600w HPS and was looking at the same companies until i found this one which has a five year warranty on the hood and ballast and the longest warranty from the other ballasts was 2 or 3 years. http://www.amazon.com/600-Watt-Dimmable-Coolable-Reflector-Location/dp/B00EJXVKHG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1380441582&sr=8-3&keywords=600w+hps+grow+kit i have only been using it about a week, but with a 5 year warranty what can go wrong?

600 watt Apollo here..... Very happy with it and am ordering another next month. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00521B894/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2WRS4X4C0GMOQ

I am also thinking about picking up a 400 watt Apollo for my veg area to replace my 320 watt T-8 setup. So far I have had no RF interference....

Another Apollo 600 owner here! 3yr warranty on the ballast and 1 yr on the hps bulb I believe! So far so good! Not bad for $125 IMO

I ended up ordering a Thunder ballast system. (Here is the link)

Anybody else using Thunder ballasts?

looks good to me man.. pretty damn good deal too imo, I just hope it holds up for ya. Not sayin it won't tho (I've been runnin the same no name chinese 400w for bout 2 yrs now with no issues)! Can't wait to see it in action bro!

Rojam said:

I ended up ordering a Thunder ballast system. (Here is the link)

Anybody else using Thunder ballasts?

Click to expand...

Did you get the cool tube or AC hood? When you get it make sure you go onto thunderhort.com you have to register for the 5 year warranty and if you dont register within the first year after purchase you can't register anymore they haven't officially launched thunderhort.com yet so I can't register mine yet, but there's a card that came in the package telling me all the info i just posted. Also, the ballast has 4 settings 50% 75% 100% and super lumens I don't know what super lumens is and haven't given it a try yet, but I don't know if that results in more lumens than a regular 600w, something to look into.

Rojam said:

I ended up ordering a Thunder ballast system. (Here is the link)

Anybody else using Thunder ballasts?

Click to expand...

Looks like Apollo with a different name.. You get what you pay for.

If anyone is still looking for anything from amazon at a cheaper rate then check out this site where I order all my grow supplies from

http://www.weedgrowingsupplies.net

I'm running an apollo 400 and it's been working great-found an apollo cool tube for ~$40 and now I'm even happier! They have a great product far as I'm concerned...my babies are very big using their package system-I started with a wing before I knew about cooled hoods-still worked awesome and I HAVE used all three settings! It's awesome